Titles and drawing lines

I am very new to after effects and I don't know the name of the tools I need to use to do the things I want.

First, I know how to make text crawl/roll across the screen, but how can I make it stop in the middle of the screen for a moment before then moving away?

Second, If I have a purple matte and I want to animate white lines across it, what tools would I use.

I want to make an opening title sequence a la North by Northwest. I am not sure if I can post a link to that title sequence on this forum, but if someone was willing to take a look and let me know what type of tools I might use to get that effect, you can just search on the web, it is a famous title sequence. If not, then please answer my above questions. Thank you so much.

I'm not sure what you mean by having a purple matte (do you mean a purple solid?). If you want to animate lines, just create a new layer, draw masks on it and use the Stroke effect or the Vegas effect.

You say you know how to make text crawl across the screen, but not how to stop it? I'm curious, how are you moving the text? If you're keyframing the position, simply set more keyframes so that it stops...

You really, really need to check these resources out. They will answer many of your questions and provide you the basic foundation you need to avoid frustration.

- The Great Szalam
(The 'Great' stands for 'Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble')

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